thequintessentialman

I'm a little late on this but anyone have any good tips they would share for photographing the eclipse?  This is not something I've had a chance to practice trial and error.  I'm aware of the potential damage by UV to human eyes but not seen or heard anything about electronics.  (On a side note, Eclipse glasses appear to be IR filters around 750nm from my best guess.)

 

Had a box full of different effect filters I used with my old FE2 but never got any when I transitioned to digital.  They were much too small so I gave them to a friend.  There have been a few things I've wanted to do over the years but I just did without.  Now I'm thinking of getting a polarizing filter and a neutral filter for my D800 lenses.  The little bit of research I've done said NOT to get a linear polarizer for a digital, but to get a circular due to issues with the electronics..  Recall one of the cool things with my FE2 polarizer was it rotated; taking pictures of fish in water I could control how much glare I wanted in or out by rotating it.  Will I be able to do that with the circular polarizer, the tutorial didn't mention anything like that. 

I'm considering a variable neutral density, what are the pros/cons of variable vs a set of fixed density? 

Any pitfalls or beginners' mistakes I need to be aware of? 

Had a bit of fun with those old filters though, got the starter kit at the BX, then some years later ran across a big box full at a yard sale.  They were square and had a cradle that screwed into the end of the lens (forgot the brand name) but those old lens were tiny compared to the ones on the D800. 

Thanks

17 minutes ago, Sandy Vongries said:

Search online trekking staff photo.net

OK, so the take away here is to search the web with those tags and not just inside the photo.net website.  getting much more useful information like that.  thanks

 

Has anyone found a good sturdy collapsible "moses staff" that functions as a monopod when out hiking the back country?  I have a 7' rattan staff I use with a camera clamp, it works well locally but not so well for flying.  It's an ad hoc set up and can be a bit cumbersome so looking for a better solution.

On 2/6/2023 at 8:09 PM, Sandy Vongries said:

Studied and taught Martial Arts most of my life.  The videos are time consuming to make and to watch, and have limited use as a teaching tool ex. for private students who are  paying a lot.  I couldn't even watch my own kids sport videos, and they were good. Don't spend till you are sure you have a viable audience.

Thanks but it's mostly for media and archival purposes.  Right now we are just looking for some cheap storage that parents, students, and other patrons of the school can upload to.  Guess I'm thinking more along the lines of a FTP site but with easier use.

 

One of my other hobbies is martial arts and we are trying to figure a way to get an inexpensive cloud space so parents, spouses, etc. (whomever) can upload pictures and video of events.  I do a lot of still photography (rapidly becoming a dinosaur) and another guy does the video but most all the parents photo/video their child's, spouse's, etc. events.  Some of it would be good fodder for the website promo but we are out of ideas on how to make it easy for people to send it in. 

I got the Sport not long after it came out.  Don't recall all the factors I looked at but determined the Sport to be the better option.  I do recall it's weather sealed better although I try not to test that.  I've been happy with it.  Got a real cool pic of an eagle at Yellowstone the first vacation out with it.  (Always wanted to take an eagle pic.)

May be age and diminishing upper body strength but it's challenging to hand hold mounted on the D800 sometimes.  It does like a lot of light in my experience.  I have no regrets other than not enough time to travel with it... 

mjferron: I do not disagree with you.  The tools we choose are personal and based on many factors.  My question here is just the technology and how some of the old guard (and new) that has made the transition, review it.  A friend of mine (and much more accomplished photographer) recently transitioned not only to mirror-less but also from Nikon to Canon.  I'm just curious what photography reasons other people have for getting with the new or staying with the old.  

Haven't really been paying a lot of attention to "CSC" (mirror-less") until I saw the recent news that Nikon and Canon were betting the farm on this tech and abandoning SLR.  From those of you that have or are shooting both, what has been your experience and what are the pros/cons as you see them? 

 

 

The good news is it's beginning to look more and more like operator error. I removed the lens (as suggested) and took several shots with and without the remote release. It does behave a bit differently between the two though. With the release, the second momentary press opens the shutter, the third press releases the shutter and mirror. Just with the camera and no remote release, once the mirror is lifted the shutter behaves like a traditional bulb and stays open as long as the button is pressed. When the button is released it releases the shutter and mirror. Now wondering if I would have any different results with the Nikon OEM release. The indicator lights on this remote are a little confusing and I have to rely on hearing the mirror and shutter action. That would not have been an option last night during the fireworks.

Yes, that is one of the signs that lead me to this conclusion. I can hear the mirror lifting. On the second lite press I can hear the shutter opening. After a pause I hit the release a third time the process ends and then the picture displays on the screen. (FWIW, the camera ignores the remote in live view mode.) I tried several frames without the remote and it does not seem to record a picture.

So bench testing this thing and apparently bulb is now a three step process after setting the camera up. I can hear the mirror retract but then I have to hit the remote again to start recording the picture, then hit the remote a third time to stop recording. I don't know if this is a bug or a feature. Could be a consequence of using a 3dr party electronic remote release.

 

Yes, the D800 is set to manual (M) and I scrolled through until it displays Bulb. The ISO is lowered to 100 although I've been playing around with different speeds.

Haven't played around with the Bulb setting in a few years, back when I was younger and shooting film a friend and I used to play around with it painting things with a flash light or putting halos around stuff. You know, fun things you do when you're young and on stand by at work (fireman) with nothing else to do. Used to get some decent fireworks photos too. Since going digital I haven't really played around with it and apparently that setting does not mean what it used to mean. On my old Nikon "bulb" was basically putting the clutch back in the ford. Squeeze bulb, shutter opens; release bulb, shutter closes. Last night attempting to shoot fireworks I found out that regardless of how long I keep the release pressed, the exposure is going to end when it wants to. The drill is to set camera (D800) on bulb, focus to infinity, and play around with the ISO until I get the results I want. Virtually all my shots came out at 1/3 sec even though I know I held the release for over 3, even 5 seconds on some of of the shots as well as kept playing around with the ISO. I am using an electronic remote release so maybe something is going on there. Any ideas? Fiddling around with it bench testing today, hope to get this figured out before next fireworks season.

nx studio

Is NX Studio much of an improvement over View NX? Just curious. After some diligence I finally found a compatibility mode the View NX works with but no idea for how long...

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so I've gotten one too many windoz 10 updates and View NX has finally stopped working. Been playing around with compatibility mode but so far no luck. For a hobbyist that has already spent too much on equipment can anyone recommend a cost effective solution? Once the big names went to subscription they pretty much priced me out. Shooting D800 RAW.

 

Thanks

Nikonos was the holy grail of UW photography in its day. Even though I never owned one I was a little saddened to see Nikon discontinue the line.

I suggest the dive forums.

 

Personally, I think it will either be

1) a waterproof P&S like an Olympus TG, or

2) you will be limited by what cameras the dive case/housing that you can find, are made for.

 

Actually, I've been engaged in conversations on the dive forums and I'm in discussions with friends (and friends of friends) that are noted scuba photogs, I just wanted to access the brain trust here on photo.net. There is a serious crowd in the UW phto community, Up until the advent of Digital cameras Nikon had the Nikons series that was pretty much the gold standard. Now we put our favorite camera in a housing. The consensus in the community regarding housings though is not if it floods but when.

 

In hind sight, I'm thinking I asked the wrong question. What I'm after is a good function vs price camera that produces a quality photo and allows some manual control. This can be P&S, dslr, or other. I went to a recent underwater photography club meeting (some friends I was talking to about UW cameras invited me) and a good majority of members seemed to have the TG-6 unless they had a higher end DSLR. It's starting to look like I'm at the point I should get the TG-6 rig and see where it goes. If it's too frustrating, i'll get a housing for my D800 and go from there. By thie it's probably be time to upgrade the D800 anyway.

Edwin Barkdoll: that starfish pic may have just sold me on the TG-6. I had some concerns over its ability to control DOF but you pulled it off nicely.

 

What were you using (or recommend) for lighting? I've seen TG-6 rigs from twin 4200 lumen to twin 15000 lumen. For the present I'm leaning towards continuous lighting.

I've been looking around Backscatter and Ikelite I've also been talking to the dive community but wanted to hit up the brain trust in the photog community to see what ideas they had. The dive community seems a little enamored with the Olympus TG-6. TG-6 has some really good feature but it seems a little lacking in some important ones. Granted, asking in here about a P&S camera is like asking a gourmet chef about tuna helper but thought I'd try... sometimes we I surprised.

Can anyone suggest a "point & shoot" type camera with decent manual controls? Looking for a compact that at least has aperture priority with a decent pixel count and speed else I'd just use a cell phone. Considering getting into underwater photography but not quite yet ready to commit my Nikon DSLR rig. I'm so frustrated looking at marking ads...

It's for this reason I'm considering sending her some of my old SLR books, even though the media has changed the emphasis is the same with regard to making the picture in the camera rather than an artistic rendering in photoshop. I was just concerned it could be confusing. Lighting, DOF, the photo basics should still be the same.

Light Science and Magic. - Seems a must own book to bibliophobic me.

Strobist blog?

There seem tons of photo-edutainment channels on Youtube. The big problem: Will your relative like the clown in charge there and does the presented stuff fit her needs and budget?

• Irene Rudnyk should be good for inspiring BTS footage, not sure if she is really educating.
  
• Mango Street?
  
• Joe Edelman? While I don't advocate binge watching each and every of his "togchat" episodes, hendid put good tutorials out and is also running a Facebook group, which I can't judge, since I didn't warm up with that medium.
  
• Adorama TV's gems. Gavin Howey (spelling?)
  
• Slanted Lens?
  
• Tony & Chelsea Northrup? They even wrote a (really best selling?) affordable book with embeded video links and updates "stunning digital photography". I don't own it. While they might not be ground breaking photographers on their own, they seem to take teaching, reviewing and preparing good(!) shopping advice quite seriously.
  
• Karl Taylor? He is surely capable, just maybe two sizes too big for a teenage beginner?
  
• Michael Sasser? While maybe not great, he might be able to point out some mistakes to avoid and nudge towards post processing efficiency.
  
• I'd also recommend watching tutorials about camera & especially software of choice.
  

IDK what your goals are.

I recommend keeping things most of all fun and also balanced. If 3rd Yongnuo & 2nd light stand are on the '22 Xmas wishlist, shooting what is at hand and keeping education free might make sense.

Borrowing books from the film age can't harm.

But most learning seems trial and error and knowing just enough to understand the mistakes one made. One has to take the time to practise whatever watched about lights, modifiers and reflectors.

IDK about online communities, beyond this one here.

 

 

So far most of the stuff of hers I've seen was outside natural lighting portraits and nature. Honestly have no idea what her intended direction is. Kinda' feel like she is trying to expand her basic knowledge and move from there.

A young family member is a budding photographer and the young lady has a very good eye for it. She has done a few photo portrait settings for some children and high school friends' Sr pics, and they turned out really well. She lives in an extremely rural area with very few local opportunities for much of anything.

 

Can anyone recommend some inexpensive (or free) online training or even some good books (do people still make books anymore)?

 

Thanks

What are some of the solutions you guys use for off grid power cameras now require battery power to work at all. This is for when traveling to areas where grid power may not be available for a few days like camping, remote travel, or such. I was looking at solar phone chargers and got to wondering what solutions my fellow photogs have come up with.

The search is over, the $650 discount Nikon has on the FL brought it close enough to budget I just went with it... thanks guys for your comments.

 

:)